McLaren still a "few years away" from executing F1 title journey

McLaren

McLaren still a "few years away" from executing F1 title journey

McLaren's biggest names have committed their long-term futures to the team

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Thursday 17 February 2022 10:20

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McLaren CEO Zak Brown has insisted the team remains "a few years away" from executing its journey back to the top of F1 despite improved results in recent years.

Lando Norris has been with McLaren for the three seasons that have seen an upturn in form, with podiums slowly returning before Daniel Ricciardo secured the Woking-based team's first win for nine years during his maiden year last season.

Brown has overseen an internal restructure that has included the notable additions of team principal Andreas Seidl and technical director James Key.

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Whilst Seidl has already enacted a change of culture at the team and seen proven results come from his style of management, the 2022 MCL36 is the first creation from the factory under the full jurisdiction of Key's watchful eyes.

With the entire management team committing its future, Brown expanded on what the team can expect in the coming years.

"We brought in MSP Sports last year and they've been a great shareholder," said Brown in a group media session including GPFans.

"They gave us the resources that we needed to execute the business plan, if you like, of what we think we need to get back to competing for world championships.

"That was something that Andreas laid out - power unit, drivers, technical infrastructure, that Andreas and James worked with their team, and wind tunnels, things of this nature.

"We're fortunate to be able to get those resources in place. You need technical infrastructure, you need to be able to run at the [budget] cap."

McLaren has "team of people" to get back to the front

Norris also committed his long-term future to the team with a four-year deal that has excluded 'get-out' clauses for either party.

"You also need to have the best people in the business committed to the journey, another reason why it's great to have secured Lando for the length that we have," added Brown.

"I've signed up for a long time, so I think what it is, we're a team that's fully committed to executing the journey that we started a few years ago.

"We're still a few years away because we need things like our wind tunnel to come online to be able to really have everything that we need.

"We either have everything we need now or it's been ordered, and it's on its way, and it's quite exciting because I think it's going to be the team of people that we have that ultimately will get us back to the front."